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Secret Service Officer Assaulted After Immigration Rally

A man is accused of assaulting a Secret Service officer after the large immigration rally outside the White House on Saturday. News4's Scott MacFarlane reports.

(Published Tuesday, July 3, 2018)

A U.S. Secret Service officer was injured in an assault while on patrol outside the White House on Saturday shortly after the major immigration rally in Lafayette Park, according to newly filed federal court records.

Steven Carmona is accused of illegally parking his BMW along Pennsylvania Avenue, moving a bicycle rack-style security barrier erected for the rally and screaming at the officers "Where is the president?" according to a Secret Service affidavit obtained by the News4 I-Team.

The court filings say that after Secret Service officers tried to stop Carmona for illegal parking, Carmona moved the security barrier and then punched an officer in the jaw and the left eye. Two officers took Carmona to the ground and placed leg shackles on him because they said he was kicking at the officers, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit says a Secret Service officer suffered a possible concussion and a knee injury.

"Carmona was placed under arrest for assaulting a federal law enforcement officer. While being placed under arrest, Carmona asked 'Where is the President?' He also stated to officers ‘Just end it, just kill me,'" the affidavit says.

A judge ordered that Carmona undergo a forensic exam Thursday morning at D.C. Superior Court. The judge also ordered that Carmona stay away from Officer Young, the White House Grounds and several streets in Northwest D.C.

Carmona’s attorney did not immediately return requests for comment. Carmona is charged with assault of a federal law enforcement officer.

Charging documents did not specify if Carmona had any connection to the immigration rally, but said Carmona moved a security barrier placed to control crowds at the rally.

Organizers say 30,000 protesters gathered outside the White House for the Families Belong Together rally, where speakers made an emotional plea for children to be reunited with parents and an end to zero-tolerance immigration policies at the border.